Bluetooth is a short-range wireless communications capability that enables connection between consumer and computer equipment while eliminating wires. Equipment that is enabled to utilize Bluetooth technology may be referred to as Bluetooth devices. Bluetooth devices within a range of approximately 10 meters of each other may communicate utilizing a 2.4-gigahertz frequency band. Examples of Bluetooth devices may comprise personal digital assistants (PDA), headsets, telephones, home audio equipment, and computers. Capabilities enabled by Bluetooth technology may comprise eliminating cables linking computers to printers, keyboards, and mouse devices, making calls from a wireless headset connected via wireless link to a wired or wireless telephone, and the playing of audio from a portable MP3 player via a home audiovisual system with no wired connection between the MP3 player and the home audiovisual system.
Bluetooth is designed to enable a plurality of Bluetooth devices to operate in a personal area network (PAN) environment. The plurality of Bluetooth devices in an environment may comprise a network known as a piconet. Within the approximately 10-meter range of Bluetooth technology a plurality of piconets may exist. Thus, Bluetooth technology may enable a plurality of piconets to coexisting within a home environment. For example, a first piconet may comprise computer equipment in a home environment, a second piconet may comprise audiovisual equipment in a home environment, a third piconet may comprise appliances in the home environment such as air conditioners, ovens, and lighting, and so forth.
Bluetooth headsets are becoming a popular alternative to wired headsets due to their small size, portability, and convenience. Bluetooth headsets may support audio signal processing functions such as audio codec, acoustical noise cancellation and acoustical echo cancellation, for example. The computationally intensive nature of these audio signal processing functions combined with the low power utilization required of Bluetooth headsets presents a challenge to designers of Bluetooth headsets.
In some conventional systems, audio signal processing algorithms may be implemented by utilizing an embedded control processor. However, because of the high clock rates at which the embedded control processor may be required to operate, the rate of power utilization may be too high for use in low power applications such as Bluetooth headsets, for example. In some conventional systems, the embedded control processor may be co-located, in a common integrated circuit (IC) chip with a digital signal processing (DSP) processor. A limitation of this conventional approach is that the system designer may be forced to design the audio signal processing algorithms according to the capabilities of the DSP processor. In addition, software development may be limited by the software development tools and environment that are available to the software developer. Consequently, a conventional system that utilizes this approach may comprise sub-optimal software code that executes within a sub-optimal hardware architecture.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.